EoF News / 10 January 2013

EoF News (PEKANBARU) — A latest investigative report by Eyes on the Forest coalition is published today focusing on APP deforestation and its link to deadly human-Sumatran tiger conflict in Riau Province of Sumatra.

Through the report SMG/APP deforestation and deadly human tiger conflict EoF coalition investigated that 14 human-tiger conflict incidences that left 9 people and 3 tigers dead, injured 7 people and removed one tiger from the wild.

EoF reported that SMG/APP’s portrayal of itself as a “tiger conservation” company appears to be one of the most cynical examples of greenwashing yet by the Indonesian and Chinese paper conglomerate aspiring to become the world leader.

The company now prides itself to solve human wildlife conflicts by removing from the wild critically endangered species that cause trouble. But that trouble appears to be a direct result of the company’s own operations: large-scale deforestation of critical tiger habitats.

In addition to destroying tiger habitat, SMG/APP also removed one tiger, later named Bima, as a measure to resolve the Pulau Muda conflict, from an unspecified location, in secrecy, without involvement of independent experts, and without apparent evidence that this was the actual conflict tiger.

Pulpwood monocultures are cleared every 6 years causing great disruption for tigers and other wildlife due to the large scale tree felling, the operation of heavy equipment, and the sudden influx of large crews of workers. The infrastructure created for the logging operations allows poachers easy access to tiger habitats where they set snares to capture tigers and their prey.

“There are many ways to avoid tiger conflicts, including careful planning and regulation of planting, management and infrastructure development. Forestry companies such as APP have the obligation to protect endangered species living in their concession, instead of capturing them and moving the animals to other areas,” adds Sunarto, Ph.D, Tiger and Elephant Specialist of WWF Indonesia.

But why is APP not protecting tigers? Why is APP promoting capture and relocation of “conflict” tigers when such conflict could be avoided if the company were to stop destroying tiger habitat?